** (Strategy note: it is GOOD to be the dealer in this game,
since everyone else has to show a fairly good chunk of thier hand before you
even have to turn over a single card, thus you get to make your bets while possessing
the most amount of information about what everyone else has in thier hands.
The unfortunate converse to this is that you probably won't have the slightest
idea about what's in your own hand until the game is almost over. This can be
nerve-wracking to timid players.)

** (Strategy note: it is GOOD to be the dealer in this game,
since everyone else has to show a fairly good chunk of thier hand before you
even have to turn over a single card, thus you get to make your bets while possessing
the most amount of information about what everyone else has in thier hands.
The unfortunate converse to this is that you probably won't have the slightest
idea about what's in your own hand until the game is almost over. This can be
nerve-wracking to timid players.)

Three Dog Night

{Alan, 98} ($$$$):

Regular poker deck, no wilds, 3 discards of one card each.
All players are dealt 1 card, which they hold. during turn 1 players bet on
what they were dealt.
Turns 2-4 consist of a discard of a single card for each player (if desired)
and a bet on the resultant hand.

Scoring: Highest hand wins. "The Shovel", or the Ace of
Spades, is the highest scoring card in the deck. Next in value is the Ace
of Hearts, then the Ace of Clubs, then the Ace of Diamonds, King
of Spades, King of Hearts, and so on... The highest scoring hands are as
follows:

This is a pretty simple, cheap game to play, and the skill to win is about
50% luck and 50% bluff. If you can bluff everyone at the table into thinking
you have The Shovel, they may fold and you'll never have to show your
3§. Beware, however, that someone else
at the table may hold The Shovel and may call your bluff at considerable
expense to you. With less than 6 people at the table, the odds are good that
The Shovel may never be dealt.

Five-Card 21

{Group, 98} ($$$$):

Regular poker deck, no wilds, 3 discards of two cards each.
All players are dealt 5 cards, which they hold. during turn 1 players bet on
what they were dealt.
Turns 2-4 consist of a discard of up to two cards for each player (if desired)
and a bet on the resultant hand.

Scoring: Closest hand to 21 without busting wins. Staying below 22 is
extremely difficult because you must play the 5 cards in your hand, no matter
what. Card values are the same as they would be in BlackJack, Aces being worth
either 1 or 11 points, and all face cards valued at 10 points. You may bluff
if you have busted, but if someone calls you on it by staying in the game, you
have to show and lose. Sole exception to this is if *everyone* that stayed in
the game have busted, in which case, a stud, face-up 5-card hand is dealt among
the surviving players to determine the winner.

Also, since suits are not considered in scoring 5-Card 21, if two players tie,
the tie is broken by dealing a 5-card face-up stud game among the players who
tied (there could be more than two) from the remaining cards in the deck, unless
there isn't enough cards remaining, in which case all the cards are gathered
and reshuffled. The player who dealt the 5-card 21 game should be the dealer
for the tiebreaker, even if he or she is one of the tied players. The Dealer
will be the one who decides who gets the first card.

Rudy's Jewels

{Munk, 99} ($$$$$$):

Regular poker deck, no wilds, 5 discards of one card each.
All players are dealt 2 cards*, which they hold. during turn 1 players bet on
what they were dealt.
Turns 2-6 consist of a discard of a single card for each player (if desired)
and a bet on the resultant hand.

Scoring: Highest hand wins. "Rudy's Jewels", or the One-Eyed
Jacks, are the highest scoring cards in the deck. Both of Rudy's Jewels
have the same value. The only way your hand can win a round without one of Rudy's
Jewels in it is if it is the highest-scoring hand in a round where neither
of Rudy's Jewels has been dealt from the deck. The highest scoring hands
are as follows:

If neither of Rudy's Jewels have been dealt, then the hands are scored
by the highest card in each player's hand, with the Aª
being the highest card, as in Three Dog
Night. The low card in each hand is ignored in this case.

United States Stud

{Munk, 99} ($$$$$):

Regular poker deck, no wilds, 4 discards of one card each.
All players are dealt 3 cards, which they hold. during turn 1 players bet on
what they were dealt.
Turns 2-5 consist of a discard of a single card for each player (if desired)
and a bet on the resultant hand.

This game was created on the spur of the moment when Alan bought 2 new decks of cards
from Walgreens and brought them to poker. These 2 "Stud" brand poker decks
were opened and found to contain not 2 but *4* wildcards each, even though the package
is clearly marked "With Two Jokers". This fluke of fate could not be
ignored and "United States Stud" was immediately created to be played
with these decks, based loosely on my previous spur of the moment game,
Rudy's Jewels.

Scoring: Highest hand wins. "The US Studs", or the 4 Wildcards,
are the highest scoring cards in the deck. All of The US Studs
have the same value. The only way your hand can win a round without one of The US Studs
in it is if it is the highest-scoring hand in a round where none
of The US Studs has been dealt from the deck. The highest scoring hands
are as follows:

3 US Studs. Since you have three of the four, this is one of the two very best
hands to have, the other being:

Two of The US Studs and Aª.
Having this hand excludes some one having 3 US Studs, since
you obviously have two of them. Thus it is the second sure-fire winning hand,
since the game is now forced into scoring by the second-highest card, with that
card being ranked according to the rules of Three
Dog Night. You could throw away the Aª
to try for a third US Stud, but you'd be stupid to do so.

If none of the US Studs have been dealt, then the hands are scored
by the highest card in each player's hand, with the Aª
being the highest card, as in Three Dog
Night. The low cards in each hand are ignored in this case.

Texas Toothpick Toast

{Jick, 04} ($$$$):

Texas Toothpick Toast is a "community card" game, meaning that some cards are dealt face-up in the middle
of the table and shared by all the players. Each player has two down cards that are theirs alone, and
combines them with the five community cards to make the best possible five-card hand.

Play begins by dealing two cards face down to each player; these are known as "hole cards" or "pocket cards". This is
followed by a round of betting. There are no "blind bets". Play proceeds with betting counter-clockwise from the dealer,
with each player free to fold, call the bet, or raise. Usually the blinds are "live", meaning that they may raise
themselves when the action gets back around to them.

Now one card is "burned" and three cards are dealt face up in the middle of the table; this is called the "flop".
A round of betting ensues,
with action starting immediately to the dealers right. Another card is "burned" and a card is dealt face up (the "turn"),
followed by another round of betting, again beginning to the dealer's right. Then another card is "burned" and the final
card (the "river") is dealt followed by the final round of betting.

The game is usually played for high only, and each player makes the best five-card combination to compete
for the pot. Players usually use both their hole cards to make their best hand, but this is not required.
A player may even choose to "play the board" and use no hole cards at all. Identical five-card hands split
the pot; the sixth and seventh cards are not used to break ties.

Book'em Danno

{Dan, 98} ($$$$):

Regular poker deck, no wilds, 3 discards of two cards each.
All players are dealt 5 cards, which they hold. during turn 1 players bet on
what they were dealt.
Turns 2-4 consist of a discard of up to two cards for each player (if desired)
and a bet on the resultant hand.

Scoring: The highest scoring hand is a hand that contains the Ace and
Jack of Spades (Aª, Jª),
regardless of what else is in the players hand. If this hand does not show up
in the game, then scoring is as in Five-Card
21: Closest hand to 21 without busting wins. Staying below 22 is extremely
difficult because you must play the 5 cards in your hand, no matter what. Card
values are the same as they would be in BlackJack, Aces being worth either 1
or 11 points, and all face cards valued at 10 points. You may bluff if you have
busted, but if someone calls you on it by staying in the game, you have to show
and lose. Sole exception to this is if *everyone* that stayed in the game have
busted, in which case, a stud, face-up 5-card hand is dealt among the surviving
players to determine the winner.

Also, since suits are not considered in scoring 5-Card 21, if two players tie,
the tie is broken by dealing a 5-card face-up stud game among the players who
tied (there could be more than two) from the remaining cards in the deck, unless
there isn't enough cards remaining, in which case all the cards are gathered
and reshuffled. The player who dealt the game should be the dealer for the tiebreaker,
even if he or she is one of the tied players. The Dealer will be the one who
decides who gets the first card.

Standard 5-Card Poker Rules

Rank of poker hands (from highest to lowest)

Five of a Kind  Only possible when there are one or more wild cards.

Straight Flush  Five cards of the same suit in sequence. The highest straight
flush possible is A-K-Q-J-10 of the same suit, called a Royal Flush.
The lowest straight flush is 5-4-3-2-A of the same suit.

Four of a Kind  Four cards of the same rank.

Full House  Three cards of one rank and two cards of another rank.

Flush  Five cards of the same suit.

Straight  Five cards in two or more suits, ranking consecutively. The Ace is
high in the straight A-K-Q-J-10 and low in the straight 5-4-3-2-A.

Three of a Kind  Three cards in the same rank.

Two Pair  Two cards of one rank and two cards of another rank. (addendum:
although in many 7-card games it is possible and in fact is quite common to
have THREE pair, that hand would require 6 cards to make, and these
rules only permit you to use 5 of your cards in scoring your hand. Thus, 3
pair only counts as 2 pair, with the highest pair being the ones counted.)

One Pair  Two cards of the same rank.

No Pair  This hand loses to anyone who has even one pair, but if two or more
players have such hands, the player with the highest card wins (see Single
Card Scoring).

Single Card Scoring

For purposes of ranking no pair hands and in scoring for games that use only one card, or where
one card determines the winner of the game, the rankings are as follows:

Some games (like Rudy's Jewels
or Midnight Cobain Baseball)
use special cards That have certain significance, either
as a special scoring card or a forced fold card (or even, in the case of
Book'em Danno, a forced win card).
These special rules supercede the standard scoring rules only in the case of
that card. If the special scoring card does not get dealt in the game, all poker
hands are scored by standard rules.

Betting

A
Note on Betting:

Saturday Night Poker is a White Trash Ritual, a swank re-enactment of the days
of the Cocktail Jetset when everyone
smoked Benson & Hedges 100's while playing poker to a wash of cool jazz
on the HiFi. The setting is the back yard poker table by the light of the
Tiki Torches...

Let's just say we're talkin' about the Eisenhower Era, and the price to play Saturday Night
Poker is rooted in that fine time zone. It's a penny ante' and quarter maximum
bid, so in a night you can expect a negative or positive cashflow of around
$5-$10 maximum. It's a cheap night's entertainment and it keeps the kids
off the streets.